


light of the moon

by coffeecrow



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Canon Compliant, Post-Chapter 1, Spoilers for chapter 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 20:28:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16562609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeecrow/pseuds/coffeecrow
Summary: A gentle melody floated around the room, one that spoke of the moon in the sky, of calm, and of somebody who mattered.





	light of the moon

**Author's Note:**

> The first thing I ever wrote for V3, dusted off and presented as-is.

The Ultimate Pianist's Research Lab was for the most part, quiet. The air drafted gently along the wooden floor, just enough to keep the air circulation, but never enough to rustle the papers stacked all over the place.

A gentle melody floated around the room, one that spoke of the moon in the sky, of calm, and of somebody who mattered.

Shuichi placed his hat on the piano bench, his hand gently resting against the dark material. It was playing again. Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. It was supposed to be there to keep him calm but all he could do was stare emptily into space.

The grand piano's fall board was still open, showing blank white and black keys that had barely been touched by Kaede Akamatsu. It looked so lonely there without anybody to play it. With a heavy sigh, he walked over to the CD player and ejected the disc. His eyes scanned the surface of it, his face twitching when he saw the slightest of signs that it had been damaged. Had it been so long, already? _Well, it time to leave, then..._

After safely putting it back in its case, Shuichi turned around and walked with dragging steps over to the hat on the cushion. He wasn't really sure why he'd chosen to wear it this evening, but there it sat, waiting for him to pick it up and place it on top of its rightful spot. But... after picking it up, his hand stopped. The seat was no empty, and the piano keys still screamed out for somebody to play them.

"Damn it, Kaede..." He said to the air, surprised that his voice was as resolute as it was when he said it. With a shake of his head to clear any lingering throughts, he began to wander towards the door, properly setting his hat on top of his hair as he did.

Until he didn't.

Shuichi looked back at the grand piano. The emptiness in the seat was eating at his entire core. It wasn't right. A beautiful song like that... shouldn't just be there on a CD that would eventually be destroyed from overplaying. Beauty like that... should be played by a person called the Ultimate Pianist. But she wasn't here... anymore.

As these thoughts coursed through his mind, he went over to a drawer by the wall, searching for one labelled 'D.' Before he knew it, Shuichi was rooting through sheet music from 'Debussy.' The man had done a lot of wonderful work that inspired his dead friend, and there was no way the Ultimate Detective was going to let that slip away. With a sheet of a transcribed version of Clair de Lune that was supposedly easier than the original, he sat himself down, dropped the hat next to himself and placed his hands on the keys.

The only problem now was the fact that he didn't know how to play the piano. A deep breath coursed through his body and he carefully read the notes. Basic note reading had been taught to pretty much all kids in school, so he just had to make sure he still remembered how to do that. Like a detective scouring a crime scene, he began to count the rows and whisper the key names under his breath.

_That's an A... and an F. B-but that sounds wrong... ah! The black key, then... uh-huh..._

Once Shuichi thought he had a good understanding of what he was reading, he placed his hands gingerly on the keys and began carefully, taking his time to feel out if he had played it wrong, thus greatly slowing the tempo of the song. Low, high, then a bounce to the keys right below; wait, no...

His focus completely sank into the music then, as he slowly began to get a grasp of the tempo in the first row, tickling his memory now and then to see if he was playing it right. At least the first four notes sounded decent now, and he was slowly reaching the third row. Of course, he was nothing compared to how Kaede would've been. She could probably do the entire song blindfolded. Actually, maybe she'd yell at him until he got the song right?

The thought of her shouting snapped him back to reality, and when he looked up, he let out a shout of surprise and jumped high in his seat.

"K-Kokichi!?"

A small grin was plastered on the short boy's face. He looked like he'd made himself comfortable for the last few hours- wait, had it been long enough to say that hours had gone by?

"I was wondering why I didn't have a detective begging me to not end his life today." Kokichi's expression was one of concern, if one could call it that considering who it came from. "Shuichi, I was really worried that you might've been killed!"

 _No, you weren't._ Shuichi thought, placing his hands back on the keys. He had to get this right, he just had to...

"Y'know I thought taking off the hat would end the emo schtick but I guess I was wrong, huh?" Despite the detective silently willing the Ultimate Supreme Leader to go away, it seemed that this had not registered with him at all, as he was now very casually stretching his back arms behind his head and walking closer. "Welp... What's with the depressing tunes, Shuichi?"

When Shuichi didn't reply immediately, Kokichi gasped. "Could it be that you're so sad over Kaede's death that you've resigned yourself to stay here forever? That's no fair! We're supposed to be playing games of life together, Shuichi!"

Shuichi let go of the keys in resignation at last. "I wanted to learn this song, that's all."

"Oh, he lives!" Kokichi cheered, leaning forward even more. "But I know that's **not** all." His voice was... surprisingly serious as he said it. Like it had been when he pointed out Kaede's lie in the Class Trial... that subsequently ended her life.

Unsure what to say next, the Ultimate Detective glanced up into that purple gaze for a moment until he turned it back down so that it stared at the black material the grand piano was made of. "She told me she wanted to play this song for me when we were in the classroom staking it out. That's all."

"Oh, before she killed Rantaro, got it!" Kokichi's cheerful voice fell silent for a bit and watched as Shuichi once again began to work on the third row. The two of them sat and stood respectively in silence as the plinking of the keys continued under the meticulous hands of the boy detective, and it began to sound like something befitting to be called 'a song.'

_**DING DONG BING BONG** _

The Monokubs' 10 P.M announcement rang loudly through the room. Wait, had it really been that long!? "I... guess I should get back to the dorms." He said in a dumbfounded tone.

"Aw, man!" Kokichi sighed, looking down at his nails. "Well, I guess we'll be playing tomorrow, then!"

"Is that... all your care about?" Shuichi asked quietly as he picked up his hat and placed it on his head. He turned away from the shorter boy and closed the lid.

Kokichi's expression was still that of a smile, and then he giggled. "Nee-hee-hee, of course, I need to have some fun around here when nobody's brave enough to kill someone! Except Kaede, of course."

" **Right** , good night, Kokichi." Adjusting his hat, Shuichi began to walk out of the room with firm steps, but the purple-haired boy was very much at his side as he walked out.

"Kaede wasn't boring at all, y'know." Kokichi's expression was neutral as he said it.

"...Are you lying to me?" The Ultimate Detective asked, glancing down at his companion.

"No, I'm being serious."

Shuichi narrowed his eyes but didn't say much else as the two of them walked through the courtyard towards the dorms in complete silence, Kokichi not really saying much and instead dropping a couple deceptively cheerful hellos to whoever they passed and of course taking the time to throw a harsh jab at K1-B0 about nighttime settings.

When they reached their doors, Kokichi grinned and leaned his arms behind his head. "You're not that shabby with the piano, Shuichi!"

 _Is that another lie?_ Shuichi wondered and repeated the question outloud, and Kokichi gave him a smug smile, his head resting in his hand.

"Who knows! Maybe I'm lying, maybe I'm not!" With a final cackle, he skipped over to his own room, unlocked the door and vanished inside. Sighing, Shuichi finally got into his own living space. His fingers were numb, screaming at him for being so dumb as to even try to play the piano for so long without any experience of it beforehand. But surprisingly, he found that he didn't care too much. Changing into something proper to sleep in went smoothly, and he crawled into bed with his thoughts swimming with the picture of a moon shining over a gently rippling lake... and odd purple hues surrounding it.

"I hope you heard that, Kaede." He whispered under his breath, curling up under the sheets and letting sleep take him.


End file.
